Fallout Apprentice - Challenge 1 complete

Welcome back to Fallout: The Apprentice. In this edition we're going to reveal the reveal the contestant's entries for round 1.

We've adjusted the style of the post to make it less of a ramble, and to hide spoilers, this way you can listen to the Radio show, or read all entries before finding out who the judges picked as the winner, and who you can vote for

Challenge 1 – City of Lost Angels

Obsidian caused a little buzz when it was revealed that they had been pitching an idea for a new Fallout game, to be set in Los Angeles. Although this ground had been trodden in Fallout 1, as we have not seen this area for over a century in game time, there is plenty of scope for new ideas.

This challenge puts you in the development team for this project.

This is a challenge in 2 parts.

Part 1:

As Obsidian’s newest employee, you’re tasked with creating what is intended to be the first “Dungeon” or “Combat area” encountered in the game. The overall quest and background for part 1 is still being hammered out by Tim, Josh, MCA and Fergus so you will need to keep things a little generic for now, however they do have high expectations from you.

Although the guys aren’t quite ready to lock down the characters backstory just yet, they’re looking to get this “early game” location locked down now. To help get you started, they’ve suggested some sort of prospector/scavenger location for the player to loot to get some early equipment.

They’ve stressed that this is an “Early game” location, although the essential tutorial stuff (how to walk/run/jump) will have been covered by this point, the use of skills has not yet been “taught” to the player. You need to make sure there is an opportunity on this level to use at least the following:

Something for the player to “Hack”

A door or save for the player to lockpick

A crafting bench, with enough minor loot nearby to make an item of your choice or invention. This item should be required to progress at some point.

The guys have also had a bit of writers block when it comes to adding new skills/abilities, or new ways to use old skills. They agree its important that this location have some challenge that cannot be bypassed by the abilities (or the way abilities are used) in Fallout 3/New Vegas and have left this to you to figure out.

Design a new ability (it may use an existing or new Skill/SPECIAL attribute and/or item, or you may create a new skill; it may also be a feature that returns from an older Fallout game) and a challenge for it to overcome (to teach the player how to use it). (Abilities include lockpicking, hacking, crafting, etc).

Part 2:

On one of his inspection tours, Pete Hines has reviewed your dungeon in progress and has been impressed… So impressed he wants to show off your work at E3 as a play-through to help in the game’s announcement… However, he thinks there’s something missing, some sort of conclusion….

Pete wants the area to end with some sort of “boss” to show off the capabilities of the engine. This can either be a humanoid, or a brand new creature (Robots count as a creature, unless they are replicants (similar to Harkness)).

Whichever way you go, this “boss” must fit in with the rest of the level, perhaps through its backstory or through some effect an item in the location has (you can also come up with your own idea)

If you’ve decided to go with a humanoid (Human, Ghoul or Supermutant, Human Replicant (like Harkness)) this person should stand out as being unique.

You may not use a Super Mutant Behemoth or anything remotely similar. That more or less played this role in Fallout 3.

If you’ve decided to go with a creature, this should be something brand new to the series.

Non-replicant robots count as creatures for this purpose.

I do not want to see Cartman’s Cazaclaw idea. Yes, it is brilliant, but I want something new.

There should be multiple ways to bring the boss down, not just through combat. Include some alternative skills/ability options.

Whilst you may include a speech challenge to gain some bonus in the battle, Speech should not be able to bypass the challenge completely.

General advice

Use the spec sheet here as a ticksheet to confirm you’ve hit all the points

There is no reason at all why multiple points can’t be met my a single thing… If you need to build an item to use the new ability, and can in turn later use that on the boss, that’s fine. Equally, if you don’t want to chain these together that’s fine also.

Remember this is an opening level dungeon – creatures should reflect this.

Site

map marker

Segments

sections

People

factions

External links

leaders

“You want to go to Scrapheap? Well, was nice knowing you. We'll send out a search party to get your remains from the robots in a few days.”— NPC to be determined

Nuts and Bolts' Massive Mayhem of Scrapheap or just known as Scrapheap is a a Pre-War Scrapyard located on the outscrurts of The Boneyard. It is an early level dungeon the player character can encounter on their way into The Boneyard.

Layout

Scrapheap is laid out like any other scrapyard with masses of old broken down cars, computers, robots and other electronic and metal devices. Various pieces of scrap machinery - including cranes that suspend heavy loads of compressed metals high in the air - also dot the fenced in compound.

Structure

The Scrapyard

The compound itself contains piles upon piles of broken down scrap and robots. Some piles reaching almost 100 feet in the air. The piles of scrap all gently sloop upwards making them fairly easy to transverse if the player character decides to avoid the many paths that weave through this two kilometer square yard. But beware as the piles can be unstable, often collapsing and causing harm as they do. Your choice, the environmental possible harm of the piles, or the physical harm of the miss-matched robots that dot the paths.

The workshop - located in the north-east corner of the scrapyard - is as would be expected of any metal or scrap workshop. Have finished projects dot the floors and work areas. A crafting bench and safe full of useful crafting items within can be found against a back wall, supplying the player character some of their first chances to craft new items introduced into the game - such as pipe bombs and automatic lock picks.

The main compound's office, or Nuts and Bolts' personal office is found in the north-west corner of the compound. As the player character gets closer and closer to the office they will run into more and more of Nuts and Bolts' crazed and miss-matching robots. Once the player character arrives a scripted event takes place where Nuts and Bolts exits and begins dialogue with the player. Once Nuts and Bolts is dealt with one way or another the player then can take a key from his body and enter the office. Inside the player character finds miscellaneous early game loot.

Note

There are various explosive barrels found withing close distance to Nuts and Bolts that can be used to help inflict damage on him.

There is also a rusted crane holding a pallet of rusted compressed metal that can be manipulated using the new Destructible Environment to either shoot the chain or through an explosive - such as newly crafted pipe bombs - otherwise destroy the chain and have the metal come crashing down onto Nuts and Bolts inflicting damage dependent on where he is as the metal falls.

Background

The Scrapyard has a fairly standard history. It is just a scrapyard after all. Things don't always have to be some secret government experiment to be memorable.

Pre-War

Pre-War, the Secret Government known as The Enclave used the scrapyard as a dumping ground for broken and discarded robots and electronics. Haha tricked you Other than that the scrapyard was indeed your standard scrapyard. Taking old computers and broken down cars and compressing them, housing them and selling them. The scrapyard was owned and run by a lonely man in his mid-forties - yet looked 50 - named Matthew, but the locals just called him Nuts and Bolts. The scrapyard mostly keep to it's self as it's mountains of trash grew higher as the War neared and more and more attempt at robots occur, and failed.

Post-War

Post War, the scrapyard was given a new light. It became almost the neighborhood haunted house with parents warning children not to venture there and even Scavengers refusing to travel to the scrapyard in fear of the "rotting corpse" that screams and threatens all who come on his land, and the miss-matched crazed and frenzied robots that patrol the many paths of this fortress of scrap.

Behind the scenes

The idea for Nuts and Bolts' Massive Mayhem of Scrapheap and some other minor ideas came from a brainstorm session the developer and his Fallout loving friend had on their walk home from school, leading the The Developer to name Nuts and Bolts after his friend.

Fallout Apprentice - Challenge 1 complete

People

factions

Other actors

creatures

Other

quests

Technical

cell name

Before the bombs fell, The Red Mile was the California State Prison, used for imprisonment of breakers of the law. Currently owned by a group known as the Wardens for holding people captive, the place is a stockpile of munitions and manpower for raiders.

Layout

The Red Mile is the former Los Angeles State Prison, converted into a compound where a group of raiders hold prisoners of those they call enemies, otherwise known as the convicts. The prison has an upper floor of cells and a lower floor of an equal amount. The prisoners are confined to cells, sometimes three or four in each of them. When you enter, you will arrive at the front desk, occupied by a dead man slouched in the chair. East is the mess hall, where the Wardens (the occupiers of the prison) eat and hang out. West is the courtyard, where the Wardens stock up their munitions, and north is the cellblock and the office of The Keeper, the owner and administrator of the prison.

Notable Loot

Courtyard

In the evidence storage, there is a random pistol with ammo spawned at random.

In the yard, there is a weapons locker which will spawn either a Remington 870 or a SPAS-12 (Both about on-par with damage).

Mess hall

The kitchen contains a flamethrower with spare fuel sitting on the stove.

The tables have random food items on them.

Cellblock A

In the confiscation bin will be a combat knife and a shiv (Both will be used to show off the new executions in the game, if you sneak up on someone and hit the *Attack* button, you will kill the person silently in a small cutscene, even if in VATS)

The Keeper will use either an AK-47 or an M-16, and the ammo box's in his office will spawn ammo for both guns.

Part 1

Ok, so you have your first weapon, you've learned how to shoot it, and now we have our first quest, to go meet Neil. Upon exiting your home town, located in the middle of the Boneyard, you'll find Neil waiting for you at the edge of the junkyard. Neil's dialogue will change slightly based off your previous conversation with him, he will either consider you a good friend of his or a bully. Either way, he needs your help.

Neil: That explosion the other night? I don't think it was some gas line. From what I can tell, it came from that Atomic place. I have a good feeling about this, but I could use an extra gun, what do you say?

Once agreeing, either excitingly or begrudgingly, (or you can choose to skip this, but that's no fun) the two of you will walk into the junkyard. After a minute or two of uneventful walking, you will be attacked by a group of mole rats. There will initially be three of them, but they will continue to come from behind the junk piles until you kill five of them, although you must kill at least one personally, you can't let Neil do all the work. Upon killing all of them, your weapon will break.

Neil (Good relationship): Really? What poor maintenance. You should really use that discount I gave you.Neil (Bad relationship): Not so tough now, are you? I guess you're going to need some help with that, aren't you?

Neil will direct the player to a nearby building he uses and open the door to reveal a workbench, as well as a few crafting items, which he suggests using "creatively." An on-screen prompt will come up stating to collect a screwdriver, a weapon repair kit, and 2 scrap metal from inside the building. You can then use these materials on the workbench, with the only option being to craft the multitool mod for your Pip-Boy. The multitool will now allow you to see your weapons' and armors' condition and make repairs (it also allows splicing, but more on that later).

Neil: Well, definitely more portable than this damn toolbelt, guess that Pipboy you got comes in handy, huh? Anyway, can we keep going now?

It would only be a few more minutes of walking now, pretty much uneventful except any random spawns. You'll reach a large building, your destination, with the General Atomics International logo on the ground. Upon entering, you'll find the inside is virtually destroyed. Neil will be quick to point out something.

Neil: Now look, for some idiotic reason, they put the factory in the basement. This staircase may be blocked, but there's got to be other entrances, right? If I'm right and that explosion was from here, something must still be moving down there, let's see what.

The two of you will travel through the decayed offices and destroyed hallways, with little stopping you other than radroaches. You'll find one more destroyed staircase, as well as an obliterated loading dock, neither of which provides an opening (unless you want to spend decades or more digging through stone, but that's not a great game idea). Upon going to the second floor, you can explore a bit. A terminal will have a message of someone begging for help, stating they're sealed in the basement, however Neil will mention it's from 2077. You'll eventually find yourself in the President's office. Looking around, there's a couple ways to proceed.

Reading paper notes on the desk, revealing construction orders, one of which mentions a secret elevator leading to the basement

Passing a Perception check of 7 while talking to Neil and noticing something odd about the painting

Just checking out the painting

Upon interacting with the painting, you'll find, of all things, a keyhole in the wall, without a safe or door. You can choose to lockpick it (Note, unlike FO3 and FNV, you can hack and lockpick no matter what your skill is, but it's difficult) or you can find the key in one of the random books on his bookshelf (should be random, but one of the first few that are picked). Upon successfully using the lock, a nearby wall will slide away, revealing an elevator, leading the two of you to the basement.

The basement doesn't look much better than the rest of the building at first. Inactive assembly lines and deactivated Mister Handys are all over this large room. It is extremely dark, as the only light is coming from you two. However, you soon find that the only way forward is through a sealed, electronic door.

Neil: That's got to be a storage area, or maybe the rest of the loading dock, if we can figure out how to restore power...

It's got to be one of these buttons, right?

Luckily, there's a nearby room with lots of computer equipment. Neil will start randomly flipping switches, hoping to get something to work, while you will be pointed towards the wall terminal. If the player can successfully hack it (should be even easier than usual), they will find a note by the foreman on the odd construction crews lately and, more importantly, the command to start up the assembly line. If they fail to hack it, Neil will find the switch he was looking for and manually start it up.

The assembly line beginning to move again

Either way, the lights will turn on, the Mister Handys will activate and the assembly lines, well most of them, will begin to turn again as the Handys get back to work on them.

Neil: No way, this place... this place is freaking operational! When the others find out!

The two of you will walk through the now operational door. The lights in this new room will turn on one by one, revealing row after row of Mister Handys and Mister Gutsys.

Neil: I know we might not sell robots, but with this, I think it's safe to say I can slack off for a few years. Why don't I show you one of the tricks of the trade?

Neil will ultimately have a friendly or a know-it-all tone of voice as he gives a tutorial on how to splice. Showing it off and using the ability to activate the nearby Mister Handy, which begins randomly talking and cleaning the area as a result. Hypothetically, the player could, even at this low level, attempt to splice one of the Mister Handys, even the one Neil just spliced, and have it follow the player, but doing so would be quite difficult. It's also possible to splice one of the Mister Gutsys, but that would be even more difficult.

The two of you will at this point find the only way forward is an offline, electronic door, which the player will have to splice to turn back on and open it. The door is Very Easy so it shouldn't be difficult at all, but Neil can do it instead if you wish.

Part 2

Upon opening the door, you will quickly find yourself in a completely destroyed room.

If you do some inspecting, you can discover the source of the explosion was a gas leak, but, with an Explosives skill of 20, you can note the explosion was not an accident. Meanwhile, Neil will notice a blood trail, leading further in to the building. With a Medicine skill of 15, you'll notice the blood is extremely fresh. Walking through, you will find machinery far different from the rest of the building so far. If you wish, you can study terminals talking about the President and others wishing to safe themselves and others from the War, and you'll both realize this is basically a small-scale Vault.

Reading more, you'll find that the nuclear explosions badly damaged the building, sealing all the exits except the President's. However, with the President missing and the door leading to his entrance sealed until the machinery is turned on (which you just did), they were trapped down here.

Neil: They must've started having kids, and grandkids... They've had families sealed down here for centuries, do they even know there's an outside? Are they bat people!?

Yes, you can comment that Neil's an idiot, just putting that out there. Continuing, you'll find destroyed room after destroyed room, with multiple blood trails appearing and merging in to the one you should be following. There will be some minor loot, including weapons and food. You should be questioning how this place was destroyed (it wasn't all the explosion), what happened to the people, and what did all of this? You can also find terminals, detailing how attempts to escape were being made, but were suddenly stopped because of Vincent, who basically turned the group into a cult and convinced them to stay underground, safe from the anarchy outside.

Moving on, you'll find, quite surprisingly, a living human! However, the very nice looking girl doesn't seem happy to see you two...

Eve: You think you can trick me? What did you do? Steal his face? You FUCKING MURDERER!

Eve will at this point fire a few shots at the two of you, before running off. Even if you try, you can't catch up to her because of all of the mess in the way.

Neil: Was she talking to me? Why does everybody hate me!

The two of you will follow her down the corridor, but when you enter the next room, alarms will start going off and both the entrance and exit will seal shut, trapping you inside.

The alarms will continue to sound, as the other doors (leading to small hallways) will open up one by one, releasing the Mister Gutsys inside. Mister Gutsys are usually too tough for this, however these are badly damaged. Some are missing arms, some are frenzying from the start, one has to crawl, and none of them are at full health. With Neil helping, and possibly a hacked robot, this battle should be a cakewalk.

A garage-like door will begin to screech open but stall about halfway through. This won't stop the Mister Armory inside from crashing through it. The Mister Armory is just as badly damaged as the Mister Gutsys (you should really be questioning what caused all of this damage), all of its weapons are offline except its Gatling laser, its flying erratically, and it's frenzying. It will start shooting all over the room, without aiming at anything, before crashing through a column and the door leading further in to the facility, allowing you to continue on. However, the building will shake a bit after it leaves.

Neil: Centuries without maintenance, that explosion, we have to stop that thing before it brings the building down on top of us!

More damaged Mister Gutsys will come, but ironically many of them will be killed by the Mister Armory as it continues its destructive frenzy. However, thanks to its speed, the player will have a hard time keeping up with it. This will come to stop however, when it crashes through a wall, leading to the second floor of a large room, where it will fall to the first floor and crash into a damaged steel pillar. It will now be pinned to the ground and start spinning erratically as it continues firing.

The two of you will enter the second floor, where Neil will stay. There are multiple ways to defeat it, which will be yelled out by Neil randomly:

Fighting - Its Gatling laser is strong, but it is still spinning in circles while randomly hitting the first and second floors, meaning it should be easy to avoid. Melee and Unarmed fighters may have to circle around it to avoid fire.

Splicing - Normally a Mister Armory's control panel is difficult to reach, thanks to it being on top of it. However, with you starting above it, it should be simple to jump on top of it. It's panel is already open and, with many of the wires already damaged, figuring out how to power it down should be simple.

Hacking - There is a flight of stairs leading to a third floor. There is a damaged Mister Gutsy here, but once destroyed, you will find the terminal controlling the security systems. If you can hack it (it's an Easy difficulty), you can shut off the security alert and the computer will forcibly shutdown the Mister Armory.

Explosion - There are a few damaged pipes underneath the Mister Armory. With an Explosives of 20 or a Luck of 7, you can use a nearby machine to release explosive gas from the pipes. When you or Neil next fire at it, the gas will explode destroying the robot instantly.

With the security gone, the only thing left to deal with is Eve, who has locked herself in the next room. There will be a diary nearby that actually belongs to Eve, which should give you some idea what you're working with. Neil will try talking to her through the door, but she will continue to scream at him.

Neil (Good relationship): Hey, [Mr./Ms.] Wonderful, want to take a whack at her? She at least wasn't aiming for you.

Neil (Bad relationship): Listen, you two have a lot in common. She hates my guts, you hate my guts. Why don't you use that to bond with her a little?

If you have a Speech of 20 or you've read enough of the terminals and her diary, you can successfully calm her down, in which case she will open the door and throw her weapon on the ground, although she will sob quite a bit. Otherwise, she will come outside and turn hostile, requiring you to kill her, unless you have a nonlethal weapon. Either way, there's only one, optional room left to check out. The room where the blood leads. Inside is a large hole leading in to the shelter, the hole will either be on the ceiling where you can see the inside of a building, or the hole is on the ground and leads so far down you can't see the bottom (don't jump in, seriously).

Who created this hole, killing and dragging away everyone but Eve? Destroying all of the robots. I don’t know, that’s not my department, ask Avellone or Sawyer. Could be tunnelers or giant ants or the Enclave or something. Some random, sad attack or foreshadowing for what's to come. Either way, when talking to Neil, you two, or three if Eve is with you, will leave this place. Neil will go back to his bosses, get paid and give you your cut. Unless you want to be evil and kill him... After all, no one knows you’re down here but him and Eve, wonder if there's another way to profit off this...

Other

quests

Technical

cell name

The Broken chamber is the shattered remains of a pre-Great War office complex that served as the L.A. base of the U.S Commonwealth's shadowy, covert, government branch know as "The Agency".

Background

This L.A. branch office was founded in the year 2055 with the cover story of it being an exclusive, members only, gentleman's club for lawyers called "Private Chambers". The agents who worked here used a personal cover story of being either Lawyers, club management or dancers, a fact that did not sit well with most of the female agents but as it was all supposed to be in the secret service of God and country they held their tongues and served as ordered.

This branch's funding ended Oct. 23rd, 2077 at approximately 11:30 am, old world Los Angeles time.

Layout

The Broken chamber building complex comprises eight areas with the Medical bay being directly accessed by an opening cinematic.

(( Please note: The following cinematic discription is only meant to illustrate a minor tremor that is common to California and in no way should be interpreted as the destruction of the Boneyard or any other named location that has survived the Fallout games thus far. ))

Chapter opening cinematic over view :

Set to the City of Lost Angels soundtrack. The point of view camera angle rushes over the night time California desert, it shakes slightly as if being buffeted about when it sweeps across what is assumed to be a mild agitation along the San Andreas fault line. The camera pans high over the gaudy lights of Angel's Boneyard as they flicker at the slight disruption of a mild after shock, then zooms in on the vast heap that is the surrounding ruins some call the The City of Lost Angels. A lone hooded figure is seen scrambling through lightly rumbling ruins, climbing over burnt out cars and inner city debris. A rock tumbles loose and rolls down into the street past a make shift Danger / Hazard sign.

In slow motion, the rolling stone breaks a trip wire. A grenade cluster drops and bounces upon a close pastern of Frag mines that surround a barricaded sewer manhole.

The camera angle changes to show The Stranger's silhouette against a growing fireball that causes a chain reaction of exploding cars, blasting through the rubble and collapsing a large portion of the street, engulfing the stranger, dragging them down with it into a gaping hole of darkness.. The screen goes black and all is silent for a long moment, followed by the sounds of lapping water, the sizzle of still hot metal and rapidly extinguished flames along with the game's familiar back ground noise indicating radiation's snap crackle and pop. Then approaches the sound of, robotic, maneuvering thrusters slowly growing louder as again all fades to darkness and then goes silent.

Still in point of view mode, "The stranger" blinks and slowly opens their eyes. The player finds them selves in what appears to be a brightly lit metal tube with a small window at eye level that overlooks a dimly lit chamber with flickering lights and occasional flashes from sparking wires.

Again there is the sound of thrusters approaching as a weathered, slightly rusted and heavily beaten Mr. Handy robot bobs into view to suddenly turn one of it's remaining functional eye camera arms close to the glass. It exclaims in a thick British ascent, "Welcome home! So good to see you alive, and, umm, Ah.. Well ?, So to speak..." There is a pause and then it continues "Oh no, please do not try to talk.. Unfortunately your injuries called for, well, I dare say, extensive facial reconstruction.. Emm and to that end, yes.. If I may be so bold,.. Your guidance would be greatly appreciated.. It is above my station to suggest how an agent might wish to appear."

((A player with more than a 3 Intelligence might begin to suspect this robot is acting toward "The Stranger" from the position of a mistaken identity.))

"Agent, I must apologize. The Auto Doc has not had proper maintenance in quite some time. I am afraid the current administration have not seen fit to respond regarding technical support or proper funding for well over 200 years according to last quarters report." "Oh well, the economy is sure to show an up turn any day now." "Just hold still now." "Better to suffer the slings and arrows and all that."

"Still, em, I must offer a small word of warning.." "This Auto-Doc's power supply is indeed at critically low levels, so you should not attempt to exit until you are fully satisfied with the plastic surgery." "To turn a phrase, Your face will thank you tomorrow for the care you take, today"..

The above dialog ends the cinematic and opens the familiar character recreation mode to optionally rework The Stranger's" sex, race and general appearance just as the Fallout 3 and New Vegas games allowed when leaving Vault 101 or Goodsprings.

It also allows the player the opportunity to reset "The Stranger's" Tag skills before returning control of the game back to the player.

Medical bay

Exiting the Auto-Doc triggers a pop up that begins the primary quest Live, Learn, Survive!

Pop up details (Explore the Broken Chamber, practice your skills, craft helpful items and live to see the wastelands again.)

As "The Stranger' exits the Auto-Doc they can see the Med bay is actually two small rooms. The first of course has a now disabled Auto-Doc. It is a dimly lit chamber with flickering lights and occasional flashes from sparking wires. Beside the Auto-Doc there is a desk that has a Hot plate and a Pack of cigarettes on top. Inside a drawer there is a Stimpak and a box of 15 Bobby pins. The west end of this room is just a pile of rubble and burnt out car frames spilling into an irradiated pool from where the street had collapsed, clearly there could be no going back that way. The second room is in a slightly better condition with a treatment table that may offer the Well rested perk if slept on for at least eight hours, a wall mounted very easy locked First aid boxes stocked with 1 Buffout, 1 Med-X, 1 Psycho and 2 Stimpaks.

Optional equipment : If the project leads have not yet determined a new Pip-Boy model. This development team proposes The Pip-Boy 007. A government special issue tool. Clearly a redesign of the 3000 model it's primary feature being a bypass of the standard Pip-Boy glove, a much more subdued screen display, a flat black paint job and a notable lack of displayed model number all combine to make a more subtle design that has features built with stealth in mind.

Falderoy being a well intended but sightly, damaged and confused robot believes "The Stranger" to be a returning field agent. The robot suggest "The Stranger" must have been through quite an ordeal to loose their Pip-Boy and so provides "The Stranger" with a Pip-Boy 007 and suggest they might find a change of clothes in the Gym's lockers.

Broken Chamber Gym

Due to the added stability of the rock climbing wall serving as an extra load bearing pillar, this well equipped gym appears to be the best preserved room in the broken chamber.

Approaching the rock climbing wall will trigger a pop up window relating to the primary quest Live, Learn, Survive! with detailed instructions for using the climbing skill.

Approaching the Work and or Reloading benches with crafting or reloading materials will trigger a Crafting pop up as part of the Live, Learn, Survive! quest line prompting the player how to craft and or reload.

This would be a fine time and place to craft an Explorer's Multi-Tool and break down the .44 rounds to craft 10mm rounds for the pistol.

Home front station "ECHELON"

Just as in FO3 and FNV activating any terminal opens a basic tutorial pop up.

Back in the days before the Great War, through this now decrepit but other wise unremarkable looking office space with it's banks of computers and priority linked phones "The Agency" had it's thumb on the pulse at the neck of the free world.

Six of seven computers still function and so might be hacked with skill requirements ranging from very easy to medium difficulty and even though a good portion of the data is either corrupted or otherwise cloaked in obvious pseudonyms it's clear that no mater how well intended or patriotic the Agency's mission statement might have been. Some where along the way, their information gathering strayed beyond rooting out communist sympathizers and became more about gaining power and influence at the expense of other's privacy and personal liberties.

Hacking these computers has no real effect on events in the year of FO4 but it dose add flavor to the game's back story and fulfills yet another stage of the primary quest line Live, Learn, Survive! as it allows you to practice your hacking skills.

Shattered sewer

The Shattered sewer is aptly named as it is gaping hole collapsed deep into what the rising stench would clearly confirm as a sewer. The shattered section broke east to west clean through the Broken Chamber, cutting off the Command Center to the north.

This damage is not quite as recently created as the crater that sucked "The Stranger" down into this fresh hell but apparently it has been "explosively" opened within, as a guess, less than a month. If "The Stranger" wishes to proceed they must use their climbing skill.

( At this point a wise player might be sure they have all the tools they need to aid them before they move forward. )

After climbing down the three to four story vertical incline "The Stranger" sees they are in a sewer that slopes down to east and west. Due north there is a fortified steel door with a medium locked Terminals and an empty First Aid Box to it's left.

The Door's lock is broken but an attempt at the terminal is still a option. Successfully hacking the terminal will grant experience however the monitor will indicate that the door is malfunctioning and will not open. Either way, any attempt at the door or terminal will soon draw the misdirected angry attention of Mr. Bravo as he will shout through the terminals hidden intercom. Listen here now you Damn Dirty Hippies! I kicked your asses the last time you knocked on my door. So unless you're here to sell Girl Scout cookies or BRING BACK WHAT'S MINE! FUCK OFF AND DIE!!

The dialog responses declaring "The Stranger's" innocence could range from dramatic to the comedic but any way it goes Mr. Bravo might not be sure he trusts "The Stranger" but he is willing to make use of them either way. Mr. Bravo tells"The Stranger" that a bunch of Damn dirty Hippies have been running amok blowing holes in every thing. It seems a couple of weeks back they even managed to breach the lower chambers and stole something precious to Mr. Bravo. He wants you to get it back and he dose not much care how you do it. So if "The Stranger" hopes to exit the Broken Chamber Mr. Bravo expects results.

Note: It is possible attempt bluffing your way to the exit, with a speech check of 25 you can try to lie by telling him you've already got the briefcase but entering the Command Center with out it or what should be inside the briefcase would fail this quest and turn Mr. Bravo lethally hostile and so the only way out would be to Kill Mr. Bravo and take the key off his body.

Assuming you choose to retrieve Mr. Bravo's briefcase, searching the sewers through the eastern tunnels you find they snake left and right up and down a few times meeting random encounters with, Giant rats, Radroaches and or Mole rats before eventually running into a collapsed tunnel dead end where the body of a dead Clan member will be found, for random equipment see White Zombie Clan. Exploring the western sewers you find they like wise twist and turn with similar random encounters but with the add hazard of a very few scattered frag mines and a couple of Trip wires attached to Grenade bouquets.

Eventually, assuming you survive, you will see the make shift walls of a some what typical raider base complete with graffiti and bodies hanging on hooks but oddly enough the player's HUD initially shows friendlies to be inside.

Clan Camp

Layout:

Beyond the makeshift defensive wall that faces out to the east the camp stretches out to a bit less ten yards to the west wall where there is that is a heavy sewer access door that is impassible during this Apprentice contest, tutorial quest line.

Within the camp the sewer is bridged by scrap metal and plywood. there is one single bed, two sets of bunk beds and three mattresses that line the walls with an easy locked foot locker at the foot of each. Two picnic tables run along center of the camp with a Campfire to the east and west of them. Scattered about on top of the table, inside the footlockers and around the campfires there are assorted consumables and miscellaneous items.

All six beds and all the locked footlockers are considered owned so long as the Clan is present at this base. All other items are free for the taking.

Notable loot :

The key to Boo-Gity Ah-Mon's footlocker that can be pick pocketed or taken off his dead body.

Mr. Bravo's briefcase, locked in Boo-Gity Ah-Mon's footlocker.

Note: The only way to know which footlocker is Boo-Gity Ah-Mon's is to have his key, other wise the locks of each footlocker would need to be picked at random.

Population:

Three unnamed members of the White Zombie Clan (2 with small guns, 1 melee).

So long as "The Stranger" dose not provoke the White Zombie Clan they will seem almost welcoming. Named Clan members will engage in trade for Consumables, Miscellaneous item or medical treatment at a fair barter price. Boo-Gity Ah-Mon will even freely offer some thing he calls Long Pig pot pie.

They will gladly tell "The stranger" their version of how the New California Republic bullied their ancestors, driving them out to live a nomadic life in the sewers and inhospitable ruins of the city of Lost Angels but when the discussion turns to Mr. Bravo they will admit to had dealings with him but no more than that as they insist. "It is Bad Mojo to speak of the undead." They seem far more interest to about The Stranger's unusual equipment. They flatter and almost seem to invite The Stranger to brag about their impressive gear and the great skill it must have taken to obtain it.

*So there is the moral and or strategic dilemma of the " it is almost certain the Brief case is here. You could attempt to sneak, try to unlock every secured container and or pic every pocket and risk a violent confrontation against superior numbers or go back and face the wrath of Mr. Bravo.

Either way "The Stranger" will have to face a difficult but most likely winnable fight. From what "The Stranger" knows the White Zombie Clan they are unquestionably violent thieves and there is evidence that they are even far worse than that. Still as of yet they have acted more than fairly with The Stranger, so far. The other choice is to face Mr. Bravo and most assuredly be forced to kill him. It's true he has like wise never done anything against the Stranger but all the evidence found in The Broken Chamber paints Mr. Bravo in a dark light as well, clearly his hands have been quite dirty for a very, very long time.

Broken Chamber Command Center

Accessible only through dialog with Mr. Bravo via the Sewer terminal to the Command Center.

*If "The Stranger" actually has Mr. Bravo's briefcase Mr. Bravo will gladly tell them where to find a climbable surface to reach the command center's Broken Chamber level door. If The Stranger dose not have the briefcase they will have to pass a speech check of 25 to lie and claim to have it.

Aware of the White Zombie Clan's superstitious nature Mr. Bravo devised an ingenious deterrent to keep them away from the upper access door. He arranged rubble from the collapsed sewer and the chamber above so that in order to access the only climbable surface that reaches the Command Center's door it would require walking on shards of broken mirror while passing under a short ladder.

Layout : The Broken Chamber's Command center is what remains of the Agency's L.A. branch Director and Deputy Director's shared office. It is roughly half the size of the Home front station "ECHELON" office space. A couch now serves as Mr. Bravo's bed. The medium computer terminal on his desk holds files from his personal journal as well as an account of what happened to his fellow agents after the Great War of 2077.

If The Stranger actually has the briefcase Mr. Bravo will not become hostile unless provoked. Instead he will express his gratitude and allow The Stranger the privilege of briefly holding his prized Vault Boy "climbing" paper weight that was inside the case, this increases The Strangers climbing skill by 10 points. Mr. Bravo then offers to pay $ 100 for each of the remaining Vault Boy Paper weights you an find. This at once begins & effectively ends the quest "Completing the collection".

As a further reward Mr. Bravo uses his personal stash of Stimpaks to heal The Stranger before wishing them good luck and unlocking the door to the "Private Chambers store front and the final challenge of the primary quest Live, Learn, Survive!

Private Chambers store front

Layout :

The once posh gentleman's club store front cover for the Agency's covert operations center is now a shattered ruins of a decaying broken furniture and the last location standing in the way of The Strangers goal to completing the main quest line Live, Learn, Survive!

As the White Zombie Clan's enforcer The Lost Angels patiently wait in the"Private Chambers" store front ready to act on behalf of his Clan and complete the main quest line.

If The Stranger decided to kill Mr. Bravo Roe and Wade would consider it a favor if they would take their favorite Teddy bear in trade Mr. Bravo's key to the Private Chambers store front.

If the Stranger decided to side with Mr. Bravo then The Lost Angels would be over joyed to exact harsh revenge on The Stranger.

The Lost Angels can be dealt with in either case or there is always the slim chance the player's character might be able to sneak past them unnoticed and survive by escaping into the wasteland.

If The Stranger is detected before they can make it to the exit, The door will remain locked until The Lost Angels are dealt with one way or another to end the main quest story line Live, Learn, Survive!

Notes

*Since the project leads have yet to name the player's character or detail their origins / back story, as the development team we will for now, initially refer to the player's character as "The Stranger".

As part of this season's Apprentice contest's primary tutorial new skill expansion, this location is unavoidable and can not be exited until certain tutorial quest line actions are taken.

Home front station "ECHELON" is a double reference to covert surveillance past and present. The 1st is most obvious as Home front security. The 2nd part ECHELON relates to cold war electronic global servelance.

Related to the Definition:Chamber The meeting hall of a legislative or other assembly. A place where judges hear matters not requiring action in open court.

The Agency used their chamber to hear matters that could not directly be admissible in court but blackmail might have been easily used to force a confession or the betrayal of another.

Fallout Apprentice - Challenge 1 complete

Site

map marker

Other actors

creatures

Other

quests

“It is so cold. It chills the flesh nearly as much as the heart.”— Resident of L.A. in 22XX

The Cold Coffin is that what remains of the Los Angeles International Airport in the year 22XX and is located in L.A.

Background

Before the Great War, The Cold Coffin was known as the Los Angeles International Airport, which was opened in the year 1937. In the year 22XX it is a place that is avoided by most residents of L.A., because no scavenger and other kinds of travelers returned from this place so far. The general features of The Cold Coffin are several free roaming Feral ghouls, Protectrons and extremely low temperatures.
The locals also speak of a black knight, who roams the ruins and is seemingly immortal, since he was already seen there some years after the Great War.

Layout

Exterior

The exterior of The Cold Coffin consists of the immediate surroundings of the main building and the cargo hall, the parking lot and the runway, which is shut off from the rest by an impassable fence and is only accessible through the terminal of the main building. It is populated by a few Feral ghouls, which scale with the players level.

Main Building

The main building is split into 3 parts: the terminal, the tower and the basement.
You can only enter the tower and the basement through the terminal, which also provides the only entrance to the entire complex of The Cold Coffin.

The terminal is a huge dark hall, which is split in 2 levels. To get to the 2nd level of the terminal the player has to walk over the turned off escalators. The main features of the terminal are the waiting area, where a lot of abandoned carry-on baggage can be found, the souvenir shop, a small restaurant and behind a locked door the depository for confiscated goods. The carry-on baggage contains several items, ranging from miscellaneous and food items to small weapons and ammunition. Like its surrounding the terminal is populated by Feral Ghouls. The exit to the runway is a large cargo container, which was smashed into the original exit.
The only working light in the entire terminal is the flickering lamp above the door to the basement, which can already be seen after entering the terminal from the outside.

The basement is a maze of similar looking frozen corridors, which all lead to a laboratory, where Garen Wayne resides. Through the corridors patrol several Protectrons, which attack the player on sight. The laboratory may be entered through several doors (the one closest to the entrance requires the highest Lockpick-Skill), which are all locked except for one (which takes the longest and most dangerous route). The laboratory itself provides a Workbench and 2 Protectrons, which can be programmed, the main feature however is a huge machine, which is capable to replicate the body and mind of Garen Wayne by creating an android-replacement in case of his death. There is also a computer, which provides the player with background information about the airport after hacking it (requires a Science-Skill of 25 or higher).

The tower can only be entered through a locked door in the terminal (you can either lockpick it with a Lockpick-Skill of 50 or open it through 2 other methods in the quest Once Upon a Time). The tower only consist out of some stairs and the actual control room.

Cargo Hall

The cargo hall can only be entered by advancing to a certain point of the quest Once Upon a Time. The hall itself is a maze of cargo containers, tubes and cables, which are all frozen to some extent. At the end of the maze a cryogenic pod containing The Princess can be found as well as 2 pods with the Heartless Knights inside.

Notable Loot

1 Gold bar can be found in a safe (requires a Lockpick-Skill of 100) of the depository for confiscated goods (its door needs a Lockpick-Skill of 25 or higher)

Related quests

Notes

It is intended, that the player follows from his starting point along a 'safe road' and that The Cold Coffin is the 1st big complex, the player will see on his journey in Fallout Apprentice, so that he is urged to explore it.

The "safe road" is at the start (like the name suggests) the only safe path to advance through the world, while most other roads are populated by too strong enemies for a starting player.

The residents of the starting point are supposed to include The Cold Coffin (and their fear for it) in their dialogues to spark the interest of the player and give him a map marker.

The laboratory in the basement was made by Garen Wayne himself shortly after the Great War with the help of his Protectrons.

The Feral Ghouls seemingly weren't in The Cold Coffin to begin with but settled at some point between the building of the laboratory and the arrival of the player there.

Given that most technology in The Cold Coffin still works, it might be possible, that some of the planes on the runway might still be operational.

The lights in the terminal were turned off by Garen Wayne to save power for the cryogenic pod of The Princess.

The one working light above the basement door was intentionally left on in a constant state of flickering to draw the attention of potential helpers, who might visit The Cold Coffin.

Fallout Apprentice - Challenge 1 complete

location

given by

reward

Saving little sister is the first quest involving combat, hacking, lockpicking and crafting.

Quick walkthrough

Main Quest: Saving little sister

Your sister left a message on your bed.

She left for the sewers nearby. There may be danger there. Go after her before she gets hurt.

You defeated a bunch of raiders and met a Jet addict named Dan. He will accompany you while you search for your missing sister.

Dan told you about the flood in the sewers. You will have to hack the terminals to lower the water level.

You found Lotus, your sister’s gecko. You will have to tame it in order to make it cooperate and help find Valerica.

You got warned about Doomjaws and been given the schematics to build Taser boxes. Use the items to make one by interacting with the nearby workbench.

Defeat Henshaw by throwing your Taser box in the water in wich he stands.

Lotus doesn’t seem to be able to detect his former mistress. She is not in the sewers anymore. Proceed to the exit ladder nearby.

Reward: 500 experience points, Dan as a companion, Lotus as a pet.

Next Quest: Your princess is in another sewer.

Detailed walkthrough

The sewers

As soon as the player enters the sewers, he will be greeted by an addict saying he was smuggled by one of the raider gang. He will warn the player about danger, then yell “get him!” as the player walks away. Raiders will come rushing and gun blazing, only to be killed by the player and Dan, who decided to join the fight and help the main character.

The search

Upon further exploration, a growl will be heard through the sewage system, making Dan entering dialogue to talk about Doomjaws and the water level problem.

Players with the Wild Wasteland trait will be warned by a weird man named Liam, wearing trousers and a baseball cap, that there is a huge doomja’ up ahead and that he needs cave fungus in order to gain the powers needed to defeat the “evil lizard king”. The Wild Wasteland icon will appear once the mushroom addict will be in sight, denoting the beginning of a Wild Wasteland event.

If given cave fungus, he will be seen throwing a grenade at Henshaw during the fight, only to be killed by the doomjaw’s bite.

The part up ahead are flooded and the terminals need to be hacked in order to progress. Reaching the terminal, the player will encounter Lotus, Valerica’s gecko. The taming tutorial will start, making Lotus the player’s first pet. Upon taking care of the flood proplem, Dan will mention an invention of his designed to kill them. He will give the Taser box schematics to the player and urge them to create one in case they have to face the doomjaw. The components needed for the weapon are under lock in a nearby tool cabinet.

The beast

The next objective is acquired upon witnessing Zela, a madwoman, sacrificing a crippled raider named Chris to a young doomjaw named Henshaw seemingly trapped in a cylindrical pit in the sewers . Dan will tell the player they have to kill it. If he/she starts shooting the creature, Dan will add : “No, no, not that way, just throw the Taser box in the water down below. It’ll kill it pronto.” After killing the beast, Zela will be heard yelling “Ha! That was too easy to kill, eh? No experience points for you, dummy!”, that statement being the first time she breaks the 4th wall. Indeed, there is no experience earned after killing Henshaw the doomjaw. Lotus will then sniff the air and shake his head, making the current objective complete. The quest will be finished once the player exists the sewers.

The quest “Your princess is in another sewer” will start after that.

Quest stages

Stage

Status

Description

1

Read Valeria’s message.

2

Go to the sewers.

3

Search for your sister.

4

Tame Lotus.

5

Hack the terminal.

6

Pick the lock of the nearby tool cabinet in order to retrieve the Taser Box components.

7

Create a Taser box.

8

Kill Henshaw.

9

Quest finished

Exit the sewers.

Rewards

500 experience points.

Dan as a companion

Lotus as a pet.

Behind the scenes

The name of the quest is a reference to the movie Saving Private Ryan.

Liam and the quest "Your princess is in another sewer" are references to Super Mario Bros.

This week, Agent c is joined by Jasper and NCR who participated in the Qualification challenge to reveal the Judges' rankings and discuss the entries.

Fallout Apprentice 2013 - C1

Agent C says: As the lead judge, I'm the one responsbile for tabulating the votes. The way it works is each judge decides on what order they think the entries should go - we do allow for ties or people holding equal rank.

The contestant at the top of the list gets a number of votes equal to the number ofcontestants that played this round, the next contestant gets this less one,a nd so forth until the bottom placed entry who gets a point.

In the event of a joint rank, then we average the points for the ranks they cover (so if there's a 2 for a joint first, we would give them each 6.5 points as the average between second and first. We then add up all the points, and get a master ranking which you see here. We keep all of that secret to allow us to be weasely.

This Week, the judges individual rankings had little in common, usually we agree on the top, or more - this week some that one or more of the judges had ranked high, were ranked low by some (although others were notable for consistent high or low scores). For this reason, I'm glad its a non elimination week as this gives our contestants an idea of what each judge is looking for, and what we think makes an entry better - I hope you all read real closely to work out what you need to hit to be liked by each of us.

Well, without further ado....

Paladin117

SaintPain

GarouxBloodline

The Old World Relics

Leafless

GhoulLover666

Dead Gunner

Sadly, DragonBorn96 has elected to pull out due to illness. We tried to work him back in, but he didnt think it was fair on the others for him to continue with an advatage the others didn't get. Because he was ill, we will not be eliminating this week. We do however have a special vote that could affect later rounds - keep reading.

As the judges winner, Paladin112 wins an extra vote which will be automatically added to his tally whenever he needs it the most. If he's up for elimination in a later round and ties for elimination, that vote will save him; if he never faces this issue, it will count in the final round. If he wins another round, he will get 2 votes he can use in the same round when he needs them the most (so you could have a handful of extra votes to help win the final).

This week, as there is no elimination, we're doing a peoples choice award, the winner of this will also win an extra vote.

Dead Gunner

Technically proficient… But missing just a few extras – by that I don’t mean pages, just a few paragraphs really. I didn’t understand what the player was doing in the prison, it just seems to have started in the foyer… What has brought them to the prison? Is it a rescue mission, a hit job on the Wardens, or are you trying to escape… Although it can fit in with whatever origin the guys decide, you’re maybe leaving this a bit too generic here. The execution ability isn’t what I was expecting but that’s not a bad thing…

Didn’t like how you can skip the lockpicing tutorial by finding the key; same with the hacking terminal… I appreciate you wanted to make sure the lock didn’t become impassable, but there are better ways of doing it – this could leave players not knowing how to lockpick , I’d go with a situation where you couldn’t actually break the lock for this one check, have a “reset” button somewhere or spawn the code only after the test has been failed...

Overall good, but just needed a little more polish I think; you certainly are not the same competitor you were last time (in a good way).

Paladin

Broke convention with the dialogue-style guide. Might not be to everyones taste, but this “pitch” style worked for me.

I like how you’ve left hooks for other designers in the player’s previous relationship with Neil, and his reaction to that. You’ve given a reason to enter the facility too

The Splicing challenge sounds like a fun minigame, and seems to be something it makes sense to retry to get different results. Tying it to an existing skill is a bit risky in that it threatens to make the skill a bit overpowered; but repair is potentially one of those where a boost would actually help the skill; doing it in real time adds to the suspense.

Same as I mentioned with DG about the skill-check avoidance on the lock for the secret elevator.

I like how you’ve included some minor skills (explosives, medicine) in a bit of investigation of the explosion.

This Mister Armoury sounds brilliant. I’d have maybe added an active bit still dysfunctional rocket or grenade launcher to the mix maybe, but a gutsy-on-steroids has got to be an impressive image to show off at a show… Could possibly be resused later on in the game in its fully functional state (I think this is what you were trying to suggest with Mister Mustang).

Leaving the mystery as to whodunit again may not be to everyones taste, but I think you’ve understood one of the things I’ve been trying to get across in the challenges… You’re not the only one working on this title and leaving it as an open hook for a larger plot/quest could lead to bigger and better things than answering the question could.

Only fault is I think you might have changed the name of Eve… It says Erica on Neil’s page.

Leafless

Rather than Batman I was thinking maybe Phantom of the Opera might be a better fit, but that’s quibbiling. Choosing LAX is a very good choice for an LA based game, not sure what a cryolab is doing there, but meh.

Programming… Although its kinda been hinted at, its never quite fully appeared in Fallout so it’s a good choice, and I like the idea of temporary companions. Only problem however is that it’s threatening to make Science a very powerful skill – its now used for unlocking some doors, and disabling turrets/security systems in addition to bot reprogamming. This would need careful balance through the whole game.

Using the other skills didn’t seem to be quite right for this challenge… They should have been put into series, rather than as parallel options… We need to make sure the player knows how to hack, craft and lockpick for the rest of the game.

The quest is interesting… Since it’s a good aligned quest, it needs an evil option though… Maybe there’s another area on lockdown with some sort of fabled treasure that needs power to undo, enough power to kill the princess…

Ghoullover

The bit about the sister running away is only in the flowchart of your quest, making it easy to miss… but at least the reason to enter the sewers is there, as are a few other things in your quest… Would have been better to have spelt them out in the flow.

With Wild Wasteland, you need to make sure there is a balance, something else to take its place of equivalent value if it offers a benefit to the player… Might have been better instead to make Liam a fixed encounter, and the no XP comment a wild wasteland dependent thing.

Taming seems a fun addition; Survival is one of those skills that’s easy to play whilst ignoring as it is used mostly for crafting, so the boost here is much welcome (although again, care needs to be taken). Riding a deathclaw seems a bit silly, but hey, its Fallout – why the heck not?

Giant Crocodiles in the sewers seems very Fallouty – perhaps its strange that their only appearance so far is in the cancelled Fallout Tactics 2. Well overdue.

Liked it… Needed a little more detail, but I liked it.

Garoux

Ascension is really nice. It’s the sort of crazy over-sized and over-engineered project that we expect from the Pre-War US government as depicted in Fallout… But whilst this technical Dalaran is quite nice, and very well thought out in tying loose ends… I can’t help but note that its not what the challenge was really calling for. Whereas the challenged said to keep things generic for MCA and co to sort out, you’ve defined a major part of what has to be in the main quest line. Although some of the others did this too, they did so in a way where it can still be picked up and slotted into a different MQ or starting background… Yours doesn’t quite work unless Ascension is there. I appreciate it is your baby a bit, and you’re eager to share, but this is something that probably is going to work better in the second half where DLCs and new games are the subject of the challenge.

Moving onto the quest… I think its missing, or not explicitly stating a few of the things an opening quest needs… There is an opportunity to hack, but its suggested that the item being hacked is of a high level, rather than an opportunity to teach the player how to use the skill; I couldn’t spot lock picking at all… One of the most important things early game is to make sure the player knows (or learns) how to play. Think of Portal 1 for instance. You start without the portal gun, but in an area with a few portals and mirrors so you can see how the blue-orange portals work The game then teaches you how to position portals with one portal gun, and then how to chain with 2 portal guns. Whilst a veteran of F3/NV will probably get it straight away, a new player would likely be lost here. (I try to arrange apprentice challenges in a similar way - make sure you can do a the elements that make up the overall game, and then set players loose on DLCs and full games when the “basics” have been taught).

Engineering… Given that this was a stated criteria of the challenge, this needed a lot more info. You’ve indicated two uses for the ability, and whilst robot creation/repair has just enough detail, the cybernetics side needed a lot more. As it stands, I’m not sure why this needed a new skill rather than just piggybacking off repair.

Your writing is good, but I think you’ve put too much effort into the wrong things for the challenge… You need to bring it back to the listed criteria.

SaintPain

.

A little concerned you’ve decided the background of the player (which should be left to the main guys), but I still don’t think this would be too hard to slot in if a different origin was decided.

I really liked the agency. Such orginisations would have had to exist within the pre war USA. You’ve taken what could be a boring office block, and made it really exciting

You’ve made sure to tick all of the quest boxes, you’ve taught the player to craft, you’ve got some computers there to hack (for lore purposes, would have preferred to make sure its used), and some first aid boxes to lockpick (again, would have preferred as a barrier to teach).

Mr Bravo’s dialogue I think was particularly awesome. Having the option to gun and run Bravo instead of doing the quest could be controversial, but I liked it. Very within the spirit of what JES and MCA were trying for with Van Buren.

Climbing… Its one of those things that’s so obvious, including it can only be genius; . Having the tool also force locks was a nice touch… With all these old buildings collapsing, that doors are somehow immune from the sands of time seems strange.

One of the standout entries of the week.

Relics

“Scrapheap” was a modified version of Junktown in the Fallout Demo… Would have been nice to see a few references back to this…. However for a “prosepector”/”Salvager” location, it fits the bill wonderfully.

Salvage… I didn’t get why this was separate from repair. It seemed to just be replicating the same thing. Not sure if automatic lockpick works for me as it could circumvent the lockpick process. However Destructable enviornments… I’m not normally bothered by the presense or abense of this concept, but you’ve sold it really well.

Not too sure how this all worked together… There are safes and crafting benches, but not sure how the area works in a quest or to teach skills – but you did mention there are opportunities to lockpick and use science… You did pay attention to what Fergus said about the game he pitched to Bethesda, and demonstrated this in your pitch… I think you were the only one to mention this.

Just missing a bit more for me – a quest page, and then I think this would have been pulled all together

About me

Agent c is an admin at Nukapedia, and designs the Fallout: Apprentice challenges. He has the distinction of having been able to read the Fallout Bibles as they were released, and once wrote a sourcebook for the Fallout PnP system that he has since disowned. When he's not studying law, he's either redeveloping the portals, writing the Nukapedia News digest or adding typos to the wiki.

DEAD GUNNER: The Red Mile

The idea sounds cool, Gunner, but you could’ve used a lot more detailing. The main text is extremely short, and unfortunately it brings little features and info on the structure of the place, other than a “worded map”, so to speak. You did a much better job on your quest – which I thought was great: the many ways to do it, the reference to Elvis, and the very dungeon-like course of action –, but a quest needs its main entry counterpart to be more complete. I liked The Keeper’s background and ideological affiliations to Elijah’s Brotherhood (and him being a symbol of the BoS’ progressive fragmentation, well done!), but I missed some explanation as to why he went to the Boneyard.

Unfortunately, as aforementioned, the main entry is kind of vague. The pro is The Keeper’s background details and the quest structure. I think your potential for expanding such entries is amazing, and I believe your next one will be much better ;-)

GAROUX:From the frying pan and into the freezer

The beginning in itself aroused my curiosity. What an interesting entry title. This is a good technique to keep the reader attentive. The starting point in the quest is nice, especially the idea that the methods used to break out of the prison will determine the Tag Skills. Well done. However, it seems like the idea of prison as an initial setting has been sort of overused over the years in gaming. I don’t know, it just bothered me a bit.

An extraordinary feature of Garoux’s entry here is the amount of different nuances that take place as result of the player’s actions: but not only that, they’re also heavy and merciless (as is life), and that’s great – the prospect of Jeska being a companion, the alerted raiders, the moral dilemma in leaving her to be tortured, they’re all solid and intense options. And, as we all know, the future of high-quality gaming lies in stories with multiversed lines of action, choices, paths to follow. The cunning attention to possibilities and karmic variables is one of Garoux’s fortes, and they bring about a strong plot construction. However (and this is a big “however”), that set of choice variables seems to be hurt once by one of the initial stages of the quest, in which the player is pretty much forced to explore the Everglow, and a meeting with Orion just seems inevitable (the player is even “punished” in case they don’t want to go to Everglow). That was a negative element in the fluidity of the gameplay.

I will try to make this short: solid questline, a few bumps here and there (pretty much pointed out above), compelling stories (as with Jeremiah), the set of choice is almost perfect, the use of strategy to overcome the many obstacles and enemies (like with the combat against Shrapnel).

One last assertion: Ascension is amazing! You dared into another territory for a FO setting, and it still held together that FO feeling. I just don’t know what political relevance the BoS would possess after their ruined condition, ever decaying numbers and organisational predicaments to earn a place in the Hall of Congress, especially with the aid of the Midwestern BoS, who apparently have no interest in participating in the busy Core Region political discussions while leaving behind their valuable territorial gain in the Midwest. Anyway, the location is a great enhancement of the Fallout atmosphere.

GHOULLOVER: LA Sewers/Saving the Little Sister

The concept of sewers is pretty compelling and converges with the FO aura. But I have to say that I found some negative points right at the start. No context is given to the reader, as we start reading of an already ongoing action (especially considering this is the main entry, so a little background should be presented up front), and unexplained events are unfolded (the player simply “kill” the raiders with the guys who unquestionably join him/her; I find it to be confusing that the first enemies are so underestimated, and that the player cannot fail).

I liked the insertion of the Wild Wasteland events for the course through the sewers. But again, right afterwards, the player is led into another linear event and is unconditionally joined by Lotus through the taming tutorial (quite an achievement for a simple tutorial, even though the taming skill idea was great).

Good points: the nice setting and the possibilities of atmosphere that it can bring to a Fallout game (although it was little explored, unfortunately). Also, I quite like the Taming ability, and I’d say that it’s potentially the most fun new skill in all the entries thus far, together with Paladin’s Splicing. Also, the apparent Jekyll/Hyde conflict in Dan can be fascinating.

Bad points: the constant linearity of the gameplay, which kind of obstructs the open-world idea for the gamer. Some events are not explained or justified, often attached to that same linearity factor, and this leads to confusion.

I believe Ghoullover has the potential to improve her entries and do a better job, as was shown with her great entry in the qualifying round.

LEAFLESS: The Cold Coffin

The Cold Coffin is probably the most original of the setting ideas here. I think it feels very innovative to make an abandoned – and huge – airport into a den of decadence and coldness and death – maybe the iconisation of a modern Haunted Castle, which could make it into a contemporaneous Gothic motif, who knows; it’s very nice.

However, I think it could’ve been filled with more monstrous images. Imagine what horrible mutated forms could inhabit the freezing depths of such a place, especially after so many decades of human abandonment. It opens many possibilities, some of which could’ve been created by you (okay, the black knight/heartless knights idea is pretty cool, especially because of the former’s rounded characteristics and genius, and his mysterious aura that reverberates through the soul of the building itself; but I just get carried away, and so can other readers, so you could improve that in the future to arouse more interest).

What I liked the most in OWR’s concept was the fact that he had the eye to pick an ambiance that has always been present in FO titles, but never presented as a major location. You enriched it by giving it a huge extension, that horror and suspense element that I find to be crucial in the conception of a post-nuclear setting, and the creation of an interesting new area in our so beloved Boneyard; one that fits the contextual nuances of the city. Note for editing: the name “Red Mile” from Gunner’s entry was misplaced in OWR’s.

The half-finished projects in the workshop aroused my curiosity. I was expecting more details on them, and I think you could’ve definitely benefited from a shocking secret having been primitive but still threatening coming out of those projects. Hey, dungeons are all about dangers! (no pun intended).

Matthew Durwood’s background was concise and creative; I liked it a lot. The friends nicknaming him Nuts and Bolts and him being curiously enough the only survivor of all – at least that’s what the reader is left believing – is an ironic punch in the face of those bullies and an affirmation of Matt’s genius. I got attached to the character, and maybe because of that, I thought that such a well-rounded individual received little personality recognition and importance in the course of the quest, being basically regarded as a “boss” (a friend-or-foe edgy situation would’ve been great, as the speech conflict would have surfaced his many virtues as a robotics genius and even a potential companion to make him – and the quest – even more rounded). Just mumbling out ideas, I guess… hahaha

All in all, great concept. I reiterate that the scrapyard idea is always great, since they’ve always left us wanting more details in previous FO games. The Salvage skill is also quite clever. You could’ve used more descriptive writing and highlighted other interesting areas in that huge complex of scrap, but that’s okay as it is. Congratulations!

PALADIN : Terror Atomics

It begins well, I like the whole tutorial format of the narrative in his entry. I like the extra pages, some of them really work as peripheral constructions of your design. However, I missed a bit on Neil’s background and reasons for becoming a Gun Runner. I would perfect it, and get rid of the whole “wandering around the junkyard” unnecessary info.

The Splicing ability is amazing. I really liked the details, and I would go as far as to say that it was the pearl in your entire conception; it reminded me of the creative hacking system in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Keep working on that kind of thing, because it looks like you definitely have the perfect hang of it.

I like the dungeon, generally speaking. The idea of robots coming out of secular dormancy sets off a really suspenseful and Fallouty atmosphere: you hit the nail on the head with that. The Mr. Armory robot and its cybernetic patriarchy is also quite creative and made me curious about how it would look in a game.

Nevertheless, small but annoying points came to life: what’s with the President’s office? Is it the former President of the US’s office in the facility, or the company CEO’s office (this is some serious canonical path choosing here)? I was left confused and needing some further explanation, and I apologise if it were some comprehension problem of mine. Additionally, you mentioned it was possibly a vault, but didn’t detail more complex structures a vault usually has that enables enduring survival conditions (climate, lighting, food stock, that sort of thing very important and distinctive of a vault). People would just be unlikely to survive over 200 years (even 50 years for that matter) in an underground facility not specifically built with the resources of a vault.

Overall, very well done, Paladin! Consistent quest action, the various ways to deal with Mr. Armory, the solid dungeon conception, good amount of details. Despite the minor problems pointed out, it is an excellent idea.

ST. PAIN:The Broken Chamber

Again, a huge amount of writing, some of it even somewhat annoying, but overall excellent set of features. Congrats on that. However, it starts on the wrong foot, in my opinion: the idea of The Agency background made me imagine so many interesting ideas, and I was expecting something of the like, until I saw that it was just another “surveillance against anti-Americanism agency” (which is sort of redundant, no offence). Some of your cunning details (like the soundtrack addition, not to mention other instances) and interesting writing style compensated for that hindrance, though.

The initial sequence of cinematic scenes and meeting the robot and having the face “reconstructed”, as well as the insertion of “Live, Learn, Survive” after that was well thought of. It felt like a real game sequence. Well done!
One minor thing that bothered me: Fallout is all about references, and they’re usually fun, and your entry is all about covert agents, but… Pip-Boy 007? That’s weird and sounded kind of lame. To me, it’s very unlikely that a serious secret agency would name their main info-browsing gadget after a stereotyped fictional character, oftentimes regarded humorously. This is a personal opinion though. Other people might not feel the same.

The climbing skill is also creative – as is the Explorer’s Multitool idea and the whole math behind the skill. It seems like a fresh idea, and I like the way it’s constantly used and referred to.

Overall, the details and writing make your entry a special one, but one with some flaws, in my opinion. Sometimes, the amount of details and descriptive language overshadows creative points of your concept, and kind of occludes the potential it has to be expanded (which it can certainly be, no doubt about it). You have a taste for the charming writing and detailing, which is great, so try to make them work in your favour, to highlight your ingenuity. Additionally, the images are amazing as always, and I really appreciate your concern in leaving no gaps in the plot consistency.

P.s.: I have to say that I loved the concept of the White Zombie Clan. As always, a tribal group in which humanity has been reduced to a threatening and fearful bestiality by the stigma of the apocalypse is a good concept for a Fallout game. The illustrations were also fantastic.

About me

Crimson Frankie is last years winner, and a burecrat on the Portuguese Fallout wiki

Paladin: Terror Atomics

Wow, this entry has it all. All of these entires are amazing, but this one goes into the stratosphere. It's one of the best entry I've seen in two years of Fallout Apprentice. The dialogue options are great, the progression of action is great, Neil is great. Everything is great here. Mister Armory is the sweet icing on an already flavorful cake. Nice job again Paladin.

StPain - The Broken Chamber

.

Another great entry…holy cow, guys, you're doing an amazing job. Great job of describing the opening cinematic as well as the opening sequence of the game that take place here. It's not particularly unique once you get into the beef of the mission, but that's okay…the intro of a game should be fairly basic. But the set up is remarkable. The merits of the intro move it into a tie for first place.
Bonus points for Mr. Bravo being from Evanston Illinois. That's where my wife's mom lives. :)

Garoux - From the Frying Pan

I like this level because it does what a lot of games do not - it immediately throws the player into a tense, action-filled sequence of gameplay. Most games take some time to get things going in this regard, so it's a nice departure from the norm, Garoux. Nicely played. I also love Chief Shrapnel - his early taunts are a great emotional provocation and are quite memorable because of this. He sounds like a great boss.

Relics - Nuts and Bolts Massive Mayhem of Scrapheap

There's some fun inspiration here, and a good story. The notion of the stacks of scrap does what a good first location should: Creates a bunch of questions as well as a sense of wonder. If this was a first location in a Fallout game, that particular game would be off to a good start. The Nuts & Bolts encounter is also a good one, although I would have liked to hear more about how this first character would tie into the very beginning of a game. Top notch though, top notch.

Gunner: The Red Mile

This one has the details, but it lacks the "bang" that I would hope for from an early location. This said, it is fairly typical of a first-location type, so it's not bad.

GhoulLover: LA Sewers

I'm going back and forth on this one a bit. Part of me thinks this is too simple a quest and too basic an early location, but the other part of my brain keeps saying, "Yes, but this is very typical way to start a Fallout game." Ultimately, I just think it's not exciting or unique enough. There is early action though, which is good. Finally bonus points for naming the boss here "Henshaw"

Leafless: The Cold Coffin

It's pretty basic, but I like the set up, and I also like the "Once upon a time" quest. However, this does not feel so much like a location that would occur at the beginning of the game as location that would exist on the world map after the introduction. It's not bad, but I'm not sure it would set the game off in the manner we're used to for Fallout.

About me

George Jones (Lizzunchbox) is a lifelong gamer and an 18-year veteran of the video game industry. His first gaming-related job was as an editor at Computer Gaming World in 1994. Since then, he's launched gaming sites for CNET, run Maximum PC, established an indie game publishing label for GamePro, and worked as a video game consultant.

Eager to work in the realm of collaborative publishing, and to work with gamers across all platforms and genres, Jones joined Wikia as Director of Programming for its Games/Action channel. He happily spends his days marveling at the depth and breadth of content Wikia's 50,000 gaming communities come up with on a daily basis.

The Vote

This is a non-elimination week, you should vote for your favourite to get an extra vote when they need it the most.

The winner of the people's choice award should be

Old World Relics takes - Scrapheap

73

The Dead Gunner - The Red Mile.

598

Paladin117 - Terror Atomics

187

SaintPain - Broken Chamber

67

GarouxBloodline - from the frying pan and into the freezer

81

Leafless - Cold Coffin

59

Ghoullover - LA sewers.

110

The poll was created at 21:56 on March 29, 2013, and so far 1175 people voted.

Please wait, submitting your vote...

Coming soon

The Next Challenge

Challenge 2 - Dream Town

Every now and then a rumour reappears that Fallout is about to appear in some other media – usually a TV show or Movie… Although after Fallout 1 a film treatment was written, and fan projects like Fallout: Lanius and Nuka Break have been put into production, no such official show or movie has appeared yet.

Until now.

You are to write a “Treatment” for a Fallout Telemovie.

This may seem like a daunting task, so I strongly recommend you read the following carefully. We are after less work than you may think.

To emphasise this point, you are NOT writing a script. The script would be the next phase in the process. However, you may find it helpful to where there is a critical bit of dialogue to dip into script form for a few lines.

You do not have to give an overly detailed description of every single character and location. 1-2 paragraphs each is probably about right.. You may want to emphasise a few characters or fixed location that may become regulars or who otherwise have a large profile with a full page, but not too many.

A “Telemovie” is a movie that is intended to have its first run on television. These are often used as “Pilots” for a potential TV series to be based off them (like Battlestar Galactica). You should ensure that your movie ends in such a way that would support a future series – a few characters to continue, perhaps a few plot openings, unanswered questions, ultimate quest to achieve, etc.

If it matters to you, consider the projected movie length about 90 minutes; however I would advise not really worrying about running time.

The Focus here is on the storyline; if it helps, think of it like writing a main quest line, but ignoring all the silly side stuff and streamlining it a bit.

The prize Vault

In April we'll be opening up the Prize Vault. We've locked away some special goodies from Bethesda Softworks and will hopefully have more exciting things for our candidates to play for.

Who will go home, and who will ultimately be the Apprentice? You decide.